


Chronicle of the Roses

by Erederiu



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, I Tried, M/M, The Wars of the Roses, Unofficial Sequel, Yu-Gi-Oh Shin Duel Monsters II | Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27637946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erederiu/pseuds/Erederiu
Summary: 2 years have passed since his Graduation and Judai, having lost most contact with his friends, is preparing to meet them again in what promised to be a reunion where all of them could finally connect again. However, things prove to not be so simple when a new iteration of Duelist Kingdom, announced as a reenactment of the Battles for the British Throne, the Wars of the Roses, is announced by none other than Pegasus himself! Dragged into it against his will, Judai and his friends must discover what lies beneath this oddly sudden tournament and fight not only for the title of King of Games but for their own lives as well.
Relationships: Johan Andersen | Jesse Anderson/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki, Yubel/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 0 - Machinations

Tick Tock

The never-stopping sound of the grandfather clock was one the servants of the mansion at the outskirts of London were accustomed to, even when most of them owned smartphones at this point. It was yet another reminder of how much their masters valued tradition if their claim that this clock had yet to stop since the War of the Roses held truth. And yet, never before did it make the staff so uneasy, considering the lord of the state had secluded himself in the basement for the entire day. 

It was worrisome, to say the least. Especially since the large building held no semblance of other inhabitants and was, in fact, mostly maintained for a single occupant. 

“Should we call the young master for dinner? He hasn’t eaten anything the whole day...” one of the maids, in a worried tone, asked the old housekeeper, who vehemently shook her head in strong denial. “The master said not to interrupt him today. No. Matter. What.” Curt and to the point, her answer came with an acidic scowl, followed by the younger maid recoiling afterward. Another of the staff was ready to come in her defense, but before another word could be said, a scream of utter agony echoed in the mansion coming from the basement. 

It was enough to cause that particular maid, and a few other members of the staff to rush through the stairs and into the basement, where they were subjected to a grisly scene.

The scent of burnt flesh filled the dimly lit room, while hooded, robed figures glared at them. One, in particular, held a dagger, glowing with heat. At the very center of the room, a young man gasped in pain, body covered in cauterized carvings of elaborate symbols and, though his face was shadowed, seemed to be still recoiling from the experience. One of the man pointed a wooden wand to them, a menacing gleam sprouting from its tip, only to be stopped by the hand of the man at the center of the circle, who, with great difficulty rose from the spot.

“I thought I told you not to come down here.” his words, strained as they were, bore no malice in it. They were statements of fact.

“But, young master-” the maid leading the charge stopped herself from explaining before bowing and simply muttering “Apologies. We were just worried with the... screams”, followed by the rest of the staff doing the same. The man waited a bit as the other figures in the room grabbed gauze, bandages, and medication for him, helping the shirtless man up to his feet while lacing the medical supplies with some sort of balm. “It’s fine… We were just about done anyway. Though I would still rather you put some trust in your main benefactor. He does know how to take care of himself, you know.” the apparent master of the house explained as jovially as he could, only to wave a hand to the supplies. In an instant, the painkillers were in his hands and the bandages and humid gauze wrapping itself around his form. “Would you mind escorting our guests to the dining room and preparing dinner? I will be right along.” 

With great hesitance, the staff rushed them, but one of them, in particular, stayed behind, taking down his hood to reveal a man in his late forties with long silvery hair flowing from his head and obscuring half his face. 

“The preparations?” the bandaged man asked, turning to a glass of water and ingesting it and the pills in hand.

“Almost complete. All the cards have been found and are, as you surmised, inactive as of now.” the long-haired man responded in a droning voice. “Kaiba Corporation has also accepted the event as official, so its only a matter of time until it starts.

“You’ve been a great help, Pegasus.” The shirtless man complimented earnestly. “Rest assured your help will not go unrewarded.”

A numb nod was all he received. “And the boy?” the creator of Duel Monsters inquired, while his accomplice drew a circle in the air, which formed a mirror showing a young adult in his early twenties, dressed in a red jacket with a simple shirt, jeans and matching sneakers sitting on a rooftop and checking a bunch of cards with a lot of care. “I will have a few of the order’s agents bring him along. After all, one must extend the red carpet when royalty is involved...”


	2. And so it Begins.

A good breeze, a tall vantage point, opening booster packs, and the satisfaction of a lazy day off. These three things were usually enough of a pastime for Judai Yuki to enjoy himself without a care in the world. After all, considering the last two years were spent with the wielder of the Gentle Darkness mostly moving around the world and he still had to earn money with the odd job here and there, it wasn’t like he could sometimes just enjoy the quiet of the view of a city. Especially one like New York, which he chose specifically so he could know the setting of many famous comics of the west. 

However, such was not the case on this particular day. In fact, the former student of Duel Academia looked uncharacteristically concentrated on fixing his deck, having it spread out in front of him in an uncharacteristically organized fashion, Monsters, Spells and Traps sorted in rows above a playmat while Judai frowned after his other half decided to help him out and, in their characteristically blunt fashion, pointed out a particular trap card which the brunette was eyeing with apprehension.

“I know Hero Barrier is a card you like, Judai, but maybe it’s time you trimmed it out?” Yubel commented neutrally, though one could sense a certain irritation in the hermaphrodite’s voice as their comment was met with a blank stare from the one being they loved above all… who was all but pouting at the suggestion. It WAS a legit suggestion, they thought. It barely accomplished anything a generic trap wouldn’t. Heck, that applied to most of their beloved’s deck if they were being honest! 

Still, it wasn’t as if this sort of thing always got through to the Kuriboh-haired duelist eying his other half while a certain winged furball played with Yubel’s half-solid-half-fluffy hair, much to the dragon’s chagrin.

“But it’s a Hero Card! If I take it out, the deck will feel off!” such a whine was all the hermaphrodite got for a response while the red-clad youth put the card back into his binder despite his protest. “And it saved me so many times already!” He groused, looking over the pile of new cards amidst torn booster packs. “That’ll just make it easier for people to attack for game!” 

“Maybe it won’t if you use stuff that gives you an offensive edge. Like Fusion Deployment, which pretty much summons any monster from your deck. Or that new Guard Block trap, which not only stops an attack but nets you another card, breaking even without costing a card in your hand to stop a single attack.” Yubel pointed out, smirking with a smug edge in their voice. “Plus, considering I pretty much won pretty much all duels I participated in, I THINK I have some good eye for deck building, especially when you spent money we were supposed to be saving to, and I quote, improve your deck for the big party tomorrow.” 

“Yeah, because using the Three Phantom Demons and Johan’s cards is soooo fair…” Judai countered in a drawl while adding the cards suggested by his old defender to his deck. “Bet you wouldn’t have performed so well without them.” 

“Says the guy with a lot of custom-made cards from space, the ability to defy fate AND the most powerful card in all of existence.” Yubel shot back with a smug look. “Plus, need I remind you that you had to resort to fusing with me to beat me? I was, as you and your other friends say, kicking your ass so hard you had to wave the white flag”, prompting Judai to stare hard at them. Not that the glare the androgynous spirit returned was any indication of backing down, but it was clear none of them was going to get an edge…

Until 1 minute later the two burst out laughing and Winged Kuriboh flying at Judai’s hair by the sudden jerk of Yubel’s head. Annoyed at the sudden jerk, the fluffy spirit went back to floating on Judai’s side as he wiped some beads of sweat from his forehead, gathered his belongings back into his backpack, and stood up, sighing contently at the feeling of his vertebrae cracking back into place. “Do we need anything, Yubel?” He asked as he opened the door back into the building. 

“Have you bought food for Pharaoh? The last bag’s already over..” They pointed out, causing Judai to grimace. Daitokuji’s cat may have been a lot of trouble, but far be it from him to leave a cat without food. “Crap, I completely forgot! Thanks for the reminder, Yubel!” And with that, newfound spring to his step, Judai ran downstairs, entering his apartment, checking the rental papers on the desk, picking his wallet and rushing out-

Only to slam head-first into a well-dressed gentleman passing by on the streets, causing him to drop his cup of coffee onto the ground. “Watch where you’re going next time, will you?” the bloke chastised with a posh British accent, which completely went over the Japanese youth’s head. “S-sorry!” Judai apologized, taking his wallet out and getting some of his leftover cash to pay the man. “Does this cover the Coffee? I don’t know where you got it from, but… it’s kinda what I have to spare.” came the offer, which the man took with no further words while picking the spilled cup and tossing it on a nearby trash can. 

Judai rubbed his head sheepishly and ran away, shouting out one last apology to the strange fellow, who simply regarded him with a scowl and picked up his phone, dialing a number and waiting for a response.

_______________________________________________

“Gaia Plate will attack your Rainbow Dragon, which activates its effect and halves the attack points of your monster!” A young man in a cowboy getup declared triumphantly in a heavy Australian accent, poking his card forward in the direction of another card, this one depicting a pristine dragon. Crossing his arms triumphantly, he tipped his head back. “And that’s the game!”

Meanwhile, his opponent, a blue-haired pretty boy, smiled confidently and flipped a green card from his back row. “Not So fast, Jim! I activate Forbidden Holy Grail! This gives your monster 400 more Attack, but negates its effects! Next, Rainbow Dragon’s effect: Rainbow Overdrive! I’ll send Gem Beast Topaz Tiger to the Graveyard!” He countered with the same amount of enthusiasm. “That means Rainbow Dragon gains 1000 more attack points!” 

“But that means-”

“Game’s mine!” 

The banter ceased with the Australian leaning back on his seat. “Seriously?! Five times in a row?! No wonder Pegasus calls you the fifth-best duelist in the world, Crystal Boy!” Jim Crocodile Cook groused, collecting his cards and, after sorting his fusion deck, neatly replacing them in their deck box.

Mimicking his opponent, Johan Anderson also put his cards back in place, although with far more reverence than his friend did, before sinking back on his seat. “While I’m pretty confident in my deck and skills, I don’t think that ranking matters much anyway.” He concluded, seemingly poking the air to most people, though the Fossil duelist knew he was probably playing around with Ruby Carbuncle at this point. “Especially since he didn’t even include Judai on that ranking.”

The mention of that particular name had Johan look out the window with a much more mellow attitude, emerald eyes gazing longingly at the setting sun bathing the heavens in orange light and slowly but surely sinking the world in darkness in its wake. Perhaps at this point, it wasn’t a secret to anyone that he and Judai were closer than most would consider the boundary of friendship, which would be something Johan wouldn’t mind at all. The two of them did indeed share many similarities, but Judai’s naivete was the biggest difference between the two. When they met, it almost looked as if the hazel-eyed boy was born yesterday, and that fact both amazed and horrified the Scandinavian duelist, and now it was replaced with a sense of constant worry. 

Worry because he knew that Judai was the one who took the experience from Yubel’s ploys the worst. That sheltered kid was subjected to the loss of his friends, even went on a murderous rampage, and had the one thing he loved the most robbed from him. Thankfully, when they met back in Trondheim a few months back and Judai returned the stolen Rainbow Dragon to Johan, the HERO user at least appeared to be in a much better mental state.

A sigh left his lips as he pondered, whispering “I hope he’s Ok…” 

Thankfully, the brooding was ended by both Ruby nuzzling against his arm and Jim tossing a bag of potato chips in his general direction. “Lighten up, Johan. He’s probably fine!” the Fossil user chirped “And if he isn’t… well, guess we have our work cut out for us! I’m sure the four of us can do something to cheer him up!” His aquamarine eye then moved to the side, to where another pair of people sat quite far from each other but still turned to address the call. “Ain’t that right, O’Brien, and Manjyome!?” 

While the Volcanic Duelist, dressed in an outfit not out of place for a soldier, simply nodded stoically, the leaner lad sitting on the opposite end, dressed in rather high-end jeans and gray shirt, topped off by a black coat simply scoffed and made a point to look more frustrated than what he actually was. “That’s Manjyome-SAN to you, Cook!” he exclaimed. 

“Works every time!” Johan chirped in, snickering as if someone flicked a switch in his brain that made him go from introspective to happy-go-lucky again, which caused the Ojama duelist’s eye to twitch. 

“ANYWAY!” Manjyome snarled, trying to regain control of his temper (even if he was failing miserably in that department. “I’m only going with you because I’m scheduled to meet Edo there! Judai can take care of himself, for all I know!” 

“You’re not fooling anyone, boss!” As if to prolong the pro neophyte’s torment further, The spirit of Ojama Yellow, in all its ‘glory’, decided to throw its two cents in the talk, materializing next to its master and, as customary, dancing around in the air with a mocking smirk. “We all heard it when you said you wanted to thank Judai for convincing Ms. Asuka to join you on this little trip.”

“GO BOTHER SOMEONE ELSE, WILL YOU?!” And with the loud outburst, the yellow spirit suddenly began running on thin air, crossing the threshold of the plane and vanishing again, prompting Manjyome to scoff and causing Johan and Jim to burst out laughing. 

Meanwhile, while O’Brien was smirking as well, his reaction was far more restrained, even when he pulled out a couple of letters with the logo of Industrial Illusions addressed to Judai Johan, Edo, Manjyome, and Sho. The soldier frowned as he looked over the skyline and saw the bright lights of the American shoreline coming into view. He knew why Pegasus asked HIM to deliver them, seeing as he was the only one keeping tabs of Judai, but something felt off…

And call it paranoia, but his guts told him there was a lot more to the story than he had been briefed about.

O’Brien had a bad feeling about this...  
_________________________________________________________________________

Despite what his lanky build would suggest, Judai had minimal trouble carrying the many bags of groceries and cat food back from his meanderings (most of it being junk food and shrimps for himself) back to his temporary home while humming along to a tune currently playing on his smartphone (The one gift from his more fortunate buddies O’Brien himself saw fit to force upon the HERO duelist). 

Complicated as it was, however, the graduate had to give it this: it was VERY useful. 

Still, the replacement of the light of day for the artificial light of the City That Never Sleeps certainly made him hasten his pace. Not due to worry for his own well being, but because hell hath no fury like a hungry Pharaoh. 

“And that takes care of everything! We’ll have plenty of food to watch the matches tonight!” Judai happily exclaimed, though whether he was oblivious or didn’t care about the looks of annoyance and/or concern from the people around him, one would never know. For now, though, the red-clad brunette was perfectly happy with ascending the stairs of the building he called a temporary home.

“I’m glad you are happy, Judai,” Yubel replied, sounding snappy as per the usual. “But I feel your friends will not really like it when they see the… state you left the apartment in.” 

“C’mon Yubel, it’s not that-” In perfect cue, Judai opened the door, only to be greeted with a sight truly worthy of a warzone… or a messy bedroom on steroids. Both analogies fit in the scenario he found himself in. Instead of finishing the sentence, he settled for just glaring at his other half, who only returned with an even stare that all but screamed ‘I told you so.’

Normally he would have glared petulantly, but a single ‘meow’ from a certain old kitty who was looking at him from above the cheap sofa told him he didn’t have a choice but to admit to his wrongs and start tidying the place over… and placating his involuntary roommate. 

“Ok, ok, Pharaoh… I brought you food!” Said Judai, trying to placate the pet while placing the groceries on the modest dinner table and picking over the bag with both hands so he could serve the cat a generous portion on the bowl near the couch, which had pharaoh run to the bowl and gorge himself in its contents. 

With a sheepish smile, Judai moved about the house, starting the very long cleanup to come with a lack of enthusiasm on his feet, mouthing to himself “Why didn’t I start doing this earlier?!”, to the surprise of none of his spiritual companions. 

_________________________________________________________________________

“We’ve found him, Archmeister. He’s living on a rental apartment block in Harlem, New York City.” the dapper man all but whispered while stepping away from the crowd and retrieving a book-shaped brooch from his pocket and placing it on his tie, producing a hooded robe that completely concealed his form as he overlooked a small apartment window from the rooftops nearby, where a hazel-haired young man was currently moving bags of trash around.

“Excellently done, as expected from the American branch!.” Complimented a jovial, yet dignified, male voice from the other side with the exact same posh accent. “We would like you to apprehend the boy with whatever means you deem necessary.” The man on the other side instructed. “I’d suggest a squadron of… ten of your best should be...” The voice paused for a second. “Yes, ten would be adequate.”

The instruction only made the man’s frown and scowl deepen. “With all due respect, sir, that is absurdly excessive for a mere commoner-”

“Take the measures you see fit, but trust me when I say this.” the voice on the phone cut him off, suddenly sounding dead serious. “That bloke is FAR from a ‘mere’ commoner.”

The cloaked man acquiesced with a sigh. “It will be done.”

“I look forward to the results. Ta ta for now.” The statement, ambiguous as it was, hung in the air as the call ended and the cloaked man produced an orb of crystal from his pocket and pointed it at the window, an orange glow overtaking the contraption while the stranger began chanting words in a language long since dead. 

It didn’t take long for the result to show itself as what could only be described as a bolt of fire collided with the apartment, setting it ablaze. All the while, from the ground level, the group of young adults heading towards the place could only rush to it in horror, afraid for the safety of their friend. And even from the top of the building the scream of “JUDAI!” Let out by the teal-haired member of the group was enough to distract the caster, who pointed the orb towards them…

Only to find himself sent flying onto the other end of the rooftop by a kick from a very irate duel spirit holding his target, who now looked livid if the glowing heterochromatic eyes lighting up his scowl was any indication.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope all who stumbled across this little piece of mine had a good read. It is my first foray into fanfiction and I hope I managed to capture how my favorite YGO characters act. As a side note, I would like to preface that I will be using the Japanese card names for this fic out of respect for the source material (and because I have a certain disdain for Konami's translation of many of them, but it is only a preference of mine. Anyway, to whoever took their time to read this, you have my honest Thank You!


End file.
